Cohu, Inc.

COHU ·Technology, Scientific & Technical Instruments, United States
Analysis › Moat Score

Moat Score — Cohu, Inc.

Total Moat Score 11 / 30
Moat Factor Score Analysis
Intangible Assets Patents, trademarks, brand strength, or regulatory licenses that protect a company's products or services from being freely copied by competitors. 3 / 5 Decades of engineering know-how in test handler design and a growing AI-software layer (Tignis) provide real, if not dominant, technical differentiation.
Cost Advantage A durable ability to produce goods or services more cheaply than competitors — through scale, unique access to cheap inputs, location, or process — that lets a company undercut rivals or out-earn them at the same price. 1 / 5 No structural cost advantage versus larger ATE rivals Teradyne and Advantest, which benefit from greater scale.
Pricing Power The ability to raise prices without losing meaningful business, because the product or service is differentiated, mission-critical, or has few good substitutes. 2 / 5 Leading position in test handlers supports reasonable pricing, though large semiconductor customers retain significant negotiating leverage.
Network Effect The product or service becomes more valuable to every user as more people or organizations use it, making an established leader harder to displace. 0 / 5 No meaningful network effect; value is delivered through equipment performance and software analytics, not user networks.
Switching Costs The money, time, or operational disruption a customer would face switching to a competitor, which locks in existing customers and supports renewals. 3 / 5 Once a handler/tester platform is qualified into a customer's production line, requalifying an alternative vendor is costly and slow, creating real switching friction.
Efficient Scale A market that can only profitably support a small number of players, so incumbents face limited threat from new entrants even without other defenses. 2 / 5 The test-handler and semiconductor equipment niches support only a few credible global suppliers, providing some natural barrier to new entrants.